William Wordsworth's letter to fellow poet fetches £8,825 at auction

ANI

London

Sat, 02 May 2009: 

London, May 2 (ANI): A letter of advice by poet William Wordsworth has sold for 8,825 pounds at an auction.

 

In the 1840 letter, Wordsworth gives advice to fellow poet Robert Southey.

 

Wordsworth wrote the letter in response to a request by Southey, who was Poet Laureate at the time, to cast hieye over a poem.

 

The pair, who both lived in the Lake District, enjoyed a friendly rivalry.n the letter Wordsworth made several suggestions for Southey's poem 'My Days Among the Dead are Passed', reports The Telegraph.

 

Wordsworth describes the poem as "so profoundly fine and so beautifully characteristic of its author, that I should like the words to be as perfect as care could make them."

 

But he goes on to suggest several changes, such as replacing the word "converse" with "commune", because it is "a word sweeter in sound as well as in feeling."

 

Dr Lynda Pratt, a Southey expert at Nottingham University, said: "There was no way he could have changed his poems to suit Wordsworth but perhaps this was just Wordsworth's way of keeping the channels of communication open."

 

According to Pratt, Wordsworth, who succeeded Southey as Poet Laureate in 1843, was "notoriously tactless when commenting on other poets' work, but didn't take criticism of his own very well."

 

The letter sold at George Kidner Auctioneers in Lymington, Hants, for more than double its estimate. (ANI)